Russia on Monday acknowledged the death of 63 soldiers in Ukraine, killed in a Ukrainian strike in separatist territory in the east of the country, the heaviest losses in a single attack admitted by Moscow since the start of the invasion.
The Ukrainian general staff confirmed having carried out this strike on Makiivka, a city under Russian occupation located east of the separatist city of Donetsk, on New Year's Eve.
In a rare announcement that followed criticism from Russian war correspondents, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said 63 Russian servicemen were killed in the explosion of "four missiles" at Makiivka.
The Russian army has only on very rare occasions given an assessment of its offensive or communicated on its losses.
Read alsoMartial law, closing of borders... What Russian strategy in Ukraine for 2023?
According to the Ministry of Defense, the missiles were fired by HIMARS systems, a weapon supplied by the United States to Ukrainian forces and which hit "a temporary deployment center" of the Russian army in Makiivka.
On Monday evening, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement that its forces were behind the strikes on this city.
"Up to 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed and damaged," the General Staff said.
Earlier in the day, the strategic communications department of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that nearly 400 Russian soldiers had been killed in Makiivka.
The general staff, which did not confirm this figure, declared that a balance sheet of the "losses" of human beings was being established.
The announcement of these heavy losses immediately provoked criticism of the Russian military command, accused in particular by the former separatist leader Igor Strelkov, very aware of the situation on the ground, of having stored ammunition in this unprotected building. .
Reduced death toll?
Increasingly influential Russian war reporters say hundreds killed in attack on vocational school in Makivka, accuse top military commanders of failing to learn lessons of their past mistakes.
"Ten months after the start of the war, it is dangerous and criminal to regard the enemy as a fool who sees nothing," said Andrey Medvedev, Deputy Speaker of the Moscow City Legislative Assembly.
The governor of the Russian region of Samara, Dmitry Azarov, announced the opening of a telephone line for the relatives of the soldiers killed, among whom are his constituents.
On social media, some have accused Russian authorities of downplaying the death toll.